On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized what he described as “using international law as a weapon,” considering it a tool in the hands of the elite. He also attacked the International Criminal Court, warning it of the consequences of imposing laws that Washington does not recognize.
His statements came before the annual national conference of lawyers organized by the conservative Federalists Association, about a month after the United States announced the imposition of new sanctions on the International Criminal Court and pledged to stop its work.
The court, which was established in 2002, tries individuals accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity, and is considered a last resort in cases where countries lack sufficient legal systems to ensure accountability.
The United States is a signatory to the Rome Statute under which the International Criminal Court was established, but it has never ratified it. Israel, Russia and China are also not members of the court.
The speech that Rubio delivered before the conference, which was met with warm applause, was his first since the crushing defeat suffered by the Republican Party in the midterm elections.
Rubio said on Friday that international law had been used against “almost every major foreign policy decision” of the Trump administration, from operations against boats in the Caribbean to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
He considered that this law is not neutral, but rather a “tool” used by the global elite to promote its interests.
Rubio had previously announced that Washington would ban dealing with what he described as a “rogue court,” as part of the ongoing campaign of the administration of US President Donald Trump against the International Criminal Court.
Washington pledged to dismantle this court following its issuance of an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the grounds of alleged war crimes in Gaza.
On Friday, Rubio renewed his criticism of it, considering that it is a body that is not accountable to anyone, even though it “has the power to investigate, prosecute, persecute, and imprison our citizens under laws that we have not approved and over which we have no control.”
He added: “If they are so foolish as to try to impose their paper decrees on us, our response will be the same as the Roman commander Pompey responded to those who invoked the charters of their city in front of his legions: Will you not stop reciting the laws before us while we are holding swords?”
The occasion during which Rubio delivered his speech fueled speculation that he was looking beyond the foreign policy file, as presidential candidates had previously spoken before the National Conference of Lawyers.
Rubio is seen as one of the prominent candidates to succeed President Donald Trump, despite his denial of reports that he intends to leave the US administration to prepare to run in the 2028 elections.
The White House announced on Friday that US President Donald Trump, his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will hold a tripartite meeting next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, hosted by the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wells told reporters about the talks scheduled for Thursday, saying: “The president has made clear that he will discuss, among other topics, the issue of reducing nuclear weapons in the world,” adding that “President Trump believes that this proliferation poses an extreme risk.”
Although the leaders' meeting for joint talks will constitute an exceptional event, analysts say that expectations are low that the talks will result in major breakthroughs, and that their symbolic nature will overshadow their actual content.
Trump showed great rapprochement with Xi after reaching a truce in their short trade war last year, despite disagreements over the US war with Iran and other tensions between the two largest economic powers in the world.
US President Donald Trump intends to discuss the Iran war with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, but he is not expected to address the war in Ukraine, a senior US official said on Friday.
The official, who requested to remain anonymous during a phone call with journalists, said: “I believe that the president intends to talk about Iran during the tripartite meeting that he will have with both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.”
He added that Washington has a “completely different path” for negotiations with Kiev and Moscow, noting that “China is not actually part of this path, so it does not seem appropriate to hold a discussion about Ukraine there.”
The US official also ruled out that President Trump would address the issue of Alice Huang, a suspected Chinese spy who allegedly had a relationship with former NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, when he visits China in the coming days to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference.
The US Federal Aviation Administration announced today that it has become possible to resume aircraft take-offs, after lifting the decision to halt all departing flights across the United States, which the administration had previously imposed “for exceptional circumstances and safety reasons,” after it had previously reported serious problems in air traffic control communications.
US Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullen, said that there were no cyber attacks related to the suspension of flights nationwide, and that the public was not exposed to any danger at all as a result.
Mullen had announced that there were no indications of a threat to the United States behind the decision.
He said: “There is no indication, so far, that this is a malicious attack against us. It is just a breakdown in communications,” adding that officials “are not ruling out any possibility at this stage.”
Shortly before the announcement, the administration halted air traffic in Chicago due to problems with air traffic control communications, according to what Reuters reported.
The administration added: “All departing aircraft must remain parked in place until further notice.” The administration explained that international flights will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
For his part, Minister of Transportation Sean Duffy said that American airspace had been “opened” to navigation traffic, attributing the malfunctions that caused chaos and disrupted travel to “old devices.”
Duffy had confirmed that the FAA's decision was due to a communications problem affecting all air traffic control centers, adding that FAA technicians were examining the problem.
This is the second nationwide decision to stop all departing flights since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The other decision was in January 2023, when the authority stopped all domestic flights departing for less than two hours.
Last year, Congress approved $12.5 billion in funding to modernize the agency's outdated communications system.
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration and the White House asked Congress to allocate another $30.1 billion to deal with other problems.
